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sleepey's reviews
76 reviews
Doctor Who: Royal Blood by Una McCormack
3.5
It's got the kind of rich setting & solid characters you'd expect from McCormack, but the Doctor & Clara mostly just sit on the sidelines watching things unfold. I don't have any major complaints but I also didn't really get much out of it. It's ok, basically. Workmanlike.
Schrodinger's Cottage by David Luddington
3.5
The central concept is really interesting & well-developed, and the story is alright once it gets going, though a lot of the characters are just completely flat joke dispensers and/or plot devices, so there's very little weight behind any of it. The protagonist always seems to be a step or two behind the reader, which gets a bit frustrating at times.
As for the humour, I didn't find this book very funny, but I also didn't find it obnoxiously un-funny, if that makes sense. The satire may be dated & the jokes may be repetitive, but It still works ok as just a mildly silly sci-fi story.
As for the humour, I didn't find this book very funny, but I also didn't find it obnoxiously un-funny, if that makes sense. The satire may be dated & the jokes may be repetitive, but It still works ok as just a mildly silly sci-fi story.
Doctor Who: Big Bang Generation by Gary Russell
And I know this is probably more a marketing thing than the author's fault, but "The Glamour" in this story has absolutely no relation or resemblance to "The Glamour" in the previous book, making the whole idea of the "Glamour Chronicles" trilogy feel very weak & misleading.
I can usually chomp through one of these novels in a session or two but this one was a huge slog from beginning to end. I hated it, & I would recommend skipping it (ie. throwing it in a skip)
1.0
Dreadful writing, exhaustingly overcooked plot, far too much time spent gushing over the guest characters while most of them contribute nothing at all to the story (beyond making Big Finish fans go "ooh I get that reference" every couple of pages).
There's a bit where the Doctor and his companion are spooked by a mysterious stranger who somehow knows the Doctor's name... after the Doctor introduced himself & told him his name not even a dozen lines up the page.
There's a extremely weird & uncomfortable romance subplot between an alien assassin lady & a gay teenage dog boy.
There's this passage, which took me several attempts to parse & made me genuinely wonder if this book had an editor:
There's a bit where the Doctor and his companion are spooked by a mysterious stranger who somehow knows the Doctor's name... after the Doctor introduced himself & told him his name not even a dozen lines up the page.
There's a extremely weird & uncomfortable romance subplot between an alien assassin lady & a gay teenage dog boy.
There's this passage, which took me several attempts to parse & made me genuinely wonder if this book had an editor:
She was small, about four feet tall, slumped in a stained and cigarette-burned green velvet armchair, a glass of fizzy water in her hand. The Doctor knew that because he knew that these days that was all Ker'a'Nol the Pakhar (Keri to her friends) drank.
And I know this is probably more a marketing thing than the author's fault, but "The Glamour" in this story has absolutely no relation or resemblance to "The Glamour" in the previous book, making the whole idea of the "Glamour Chronicles" trilogy feel very weak & misleading.
I can usually chomp through one of these novels in a session or two but this one was a huge slog from beginning to end. I hated it, & I would recommend skipping it (ie. throwing it in a skip)
Last Human by Doug Naylor
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.0
There are some cool ideas in here but very few jokes or character moments, so it ends up feeling less like Red Dwarf and more like just an unrelated scifi novel that happens to borrow a lot of names and concepts from Red Dwarf.
The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong (Novel) Vol. 2 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
4.5
It's hard to rate & review this as its own thing, being the middle part of an ongoing story. There were a few moments where I felt like the author was flying by the seat of her pants a bit, but everything generally fits together & develops in fun ways, at a brisk pace. I found this much easier to follow than the first book, though I don't know if that's because the localisation improved or if I just got used to it.
Human Omega: Married to the Barbarian Prince by Eileen Glass
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
More of a really long epilogue than a whole new adventure. The story is over and the heroes have gotten pretty much everything they wanted, so now we see them settling down & living in peace. I get why some people would be disappointed and find it a bit boring, & yeah given the choice I'd probably prefer something more exciting like the first 2 books, but I did enjoy this for what it is.
Except:nobody married a barbarian prince
Except:
The Crawling Terror by Mike Tucker
3.5
Spider episodes tend to be a bit mid and this is no exception. Some of the insect attacks in the first few chapters are pretty brutal, but then it crosses a line that makes you go "ah so this is all getting undone at the end", & you're left waiting quite a long time for the plot to get moving again. The villain's scheme turns out to be really convoluted & largely pointless & I love that. Drink every time you're given the exact make & model of some vehicle or weapon for no reason.
Bound by Fate - The Harvest Young by M.A. Church
2.5
The main couple are in conflict right from the start of the book, so you never get a sense of what they're like normally. Do they even like each other? You really have to go into this already accepting that they're fated mates, & that Takeo knows what's best for both of them, or else pretty much everything he says & does is a huge red flag.